I am making a list of things in preparation for next year, and definitely want to keep the torch burning for healthy and organic treats for the random visitors at the door, both cute and ghastly….
But I’d also like to get more into baubles for their treat bag that are more activity-oriented, like maybe some tops or spatial reasoning puzzles… possibly something like these groovy “rainbow vision” glasses. It would be cool at some point to invest in certificates for the kids to get something like a Serving of Ben & Jerry’s (their site is done up pretty cool for the holiday, BTW) or maybe a kid’s meal at Moe’s (the mini-moo is a favorite with my two munchkins)

Once all the kids finally come down from their enriched sugar high and go to bed, you get to choose some samples from their loot bags. Maybe even do some light divination, or just watch some classic movie, like Young Frankenstein if you like comedies (it’s a gold mine of one-liners), or the more serious Dracula (the one Bela Lugosi was born to play), or I’m sure that a local station wherever you are will be airing the original H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds on the radio.

Speaking of Dracula, I caught the end of a show the other night on the History Channel called Bloodlines: The Dracula Family Tree that was really interesting, having to do with a lineage of a family who have all spent a lot of time researching Vlad the Impaler, and examined some peculiar relics from his time, including Dracula’s Castle in Romania. It doesn’t look like it will air again any time soon. I’ll have to set up the ol’ DVR to catch it in its entirety.

We went out of town instead of having a Hallowe’en Party this year, but I found This Page that has a list of 101 tips for trick-or-treat parties, many of which I hadn’t seen before elsewhere. Good stuff for next year.

You could also try to find a small amount of Absinthe depending on local laws in your area. The stuff had been banned in the US and other countries for a couple of generations, but now that it is no longer deemed “addictive and possibly poisonous”, It’s starting to show back up, and is getting a lot of attention… That is, until It becomes entirely illegal to drink any alcohol at all again, of course. I mean, those efforts worked out so well before and all…

In any case, I hope that everyone has a great, fun, safe, hallowe’en, doesn’t ingest enough sugary goo to cause stomach upset, and entertain both yourselves and others with a little holiday dress-up time….

This week, the band that I have discovered on Amie Street is Pipe Choir, out of Boston, Mass. Some of their tracks have that “modern rock” hypno-euro vocals going on (like on Savior, but the track I picked to feature here, The Wind is Rising, is a stark contrast to that track. It’s very much like Tool, with greasy, industrial-sounding guitar and liquid pacing. If you close your eyes while listening, you can easily visualize a blockbuster action sequence. This is the sort of track I seek out for my workouts.

I was looking for a video that I had bookmarked a while back to share here, but can’t seem to locate it. It was a sort of remix of video from the classic animated special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and a hilarious mix by DJ Kid Koala called “Tricks n Treats”.

The special is celebrating it’s 40th year in rotation, according to NPR and it’s still just as awesome every year.

The Peanuts specials are built to stand the test of time…. Like Tom Sawyer, every time you experience the story, there is more honest, basic truth there for you to discover, especially in different phases of life.

This is one of my favorite parts…. it’s amusing, yet sad at the same time. Good fodder for teen angst later on for Good old Charlie Brown.

Did you find your GoogleGänger? It seems very narcissistic(ego-surfing!), but with all the tons and tons of searches using all of the search engines, meta crawlers, and self-serve spiders, you know that everyone eventually decides to plug in their own name, just out of sheer curiosity.
Sometimes, people with uncommon names find out that there is one after all… someone walking around with the same name as you. Not only that, but also indexed on “teh interwebs!” Can you believe it?
, especially if someone with your name is highly profiled, or in the public eye for some reason or another.
Just like when doing image searches, you need to brace yourself for those little uncertainties, though. If your name has any connotations with lewd behavior, you will likely have been ribbed a good bit in grade school, and already be aware, but there’s always the chance that your surname turns out to be a slang term for some really vile bedroom follies in a faraway culture. If this happens to you, please let me know. (it might be a good idea to check at Urban Dictionary as a precaution) I would find it fascinating, out of sheer enjoyment of neologisms in general. Even better if it’s a paleogism.
But then, after you have identified your GoogleGanger, by all means follow Sara’s lead and turn it into some friendly SEO competition… vying for position where the search term is your name can be quite good practice for larger SEO projects!

Mark at Delusions of Grandeur mentioned some links hitting his radar about JK Rowling’s announcement that the character Albus Dumbledore is homosexual. Here are some related bits:

Dumbledore is gay, ‘Harry Potter’ author reveals. This outing sends Bill O’Reilly’s Homophobia Running Rampant and many other places go into full text discovery mode, like at Openbanter.

As I was reading the series, I saw these cues, but never took them that way. Judging from much of the reaction that I have seen after this announcement, most other readers didn’t read into it that way, either. My personal reaction when hearing the news was first a hesitation, where I mentally put together all the points of reference about Dumbledore I could remember offhand, wondering if I had missed something obvious. But at the same time, my feelings were indifferent. The cues were not obvious, and the case being that the character is a homosexual in no way alters who he was as a leader, headmaster, teacher, warrior, or father-figure. I would have had the exact same reaction if her announcement had been that Dumbledore is, say, Hispanic. I mean, the revelation is indeed interesting. There just isn’t a focus on it in the story, and the new information does not change what the books are.

I mean, If I had gone out and had a full-size tattoo done, I would probably get some ribbing about it, but really, this revelation doesn’t change the meaning or significance of the character or the books. Sure, it makes ultra-conservative types break out in hives, and start telling anyone who will listen that it’s horrible, that the sky is falling, and that the whole story is now tainted.

Yes, tainted. It’s all one big thinly-veiled Freudian tale of gay sexual innuendo…

Harold often wondered if it were true, that wizards and witches wore nothing underneath their robes. The cauldron’s bubbling ceased, and as it did, the surface of the glossy liquid cleared, and in the reflection, he could just make out the faint outline of a wand… eight and three quarters, thick, ebony with unicorn mane. He wondered momentarily if these details would end up in the penseive one day. Suddenly, a familiar chill filled the room. Knowing that the dementors would be closing in, he reached to his belt for his own wand, ready to cast that incanation that would release his raw energy, a stag at full gallop which they could not deny…

Oh the fan fiction. Oh the humanity!

It’s not like we haven’t seen instances of other Wizards coming out of the closet, either famous or infamous, real or fictional.

It’s a good thing that
Gay Marriage is Unamerican, otherwise, people would have absolutely nothing to be scandalized about…. right?

The news being that it is, though, there is a reminder that the whole series is seen through Harry’s eyes. As he is growing through his pre-teen and teen years, he’s learning more about the real world. If you will remember when he learned of the Tri-Wizard Tournament back in “The Cauldron of Fire,” he was first amazed to learn that there were other wizarding schools besides Hogwarts. Then he became amused at his ignorance. There were several other instances of this sort of revelation, where Harry pieces things together… The wizarding world is not really that different from that of the Muggles. Families think and act much the same way, the battle of the sexes, issues of hubris, these are universal.

Another artist and song that I discovered on Amie Street:

This week’s song is by Ford Turrell.

Listen to your Heartbeat is a song about sitting quietly, watching the sunset with a lover who is completely wrong for you, and realizing it. Listening to your heartbeat allows you to examine the lies you tell yourself, and maybe even forestall some of the heartache from hasty decisions.

His hands were what you laid your world in,
But they fell on you in stinging cold.
Oh love, they say, is all you’re ever gonna need.
Tell me, tell me, tell me, do you believe?
Listen to your heartbeat (3)
Let it roll you down this tired, aching street.

Turrell originally hails from Michigan, but now abides in the Nashville area, where he pens and performs. Ford’s acoustics are dead-on, the production values are clean, and the vocals are right in line with Ray LaMontagne, David Gray, and Ryan Adams. I’m going through the rest of his tracks at AmieStreet right away!

Here’s a video too!

Yesterday I took the day off from work in order to appear in court. I was listed way, way down in the calendar, so I spent the majority of the day there, listening to the sordid details of various cases and the circumstances that people (everyone) get into sometimes.
When it came to my turn, I found out that some other legal proceedings had gone under my radar, and that my being there was a moot point.

If I had known that, I’d definitely have taken the opportunity to go to Centennial Park and/or Emory University to see the Dalai Lama.

His Holiness was given an honorary professorship at Emory, and gave a couple of talks, including one on the subject of using guided Tibetan meditation in the treatment of clinical depression.

Check out the video on this page, which is an open press conference/interview with the editors of Emory’s school paper.

Metta, Y’all.

Mindfulness and Metta.

Another artist and song that I discovered on Amie Street:

This week’s song is by a group called Aloud.

“All I Can Do” is pretty stark, contemplating actions that have to be taken. This is the quiet personal moment when one decides that a relationship will be changed, or when a secret has to be revealed(which, in turn, leads to changing relationships).

Watch out how you've been acting
Soon now, they'll be reacting
You drop the bomb
She wonders what's going on...

Aloud has been together since 2002, playing in the New England and NY/NJ area pretty heavily. They have some tracks that just effervesce like the Foo Fighters or The Who, and others (like this track) that are more pensive and melodic, with a Kasabian or Oasis feel (Not to mention the dynamic harmonies you only get when using both male and female vocals). Aloud released their first album (Leave Your Light On)late last year on their own label (Lemon Merchant Records) and an EP more recently, at the beginning of September. Self-publishing: Now that’s Indie!